Can I ask for recommendations? (HVAC) (Raleigh, Star: house, heat pump, maintenance)

[CK in NC]

I am in the process of getting a new AC unit installed, hopefully soon. I have had two different companies come out with estimates (called a third, but ARS couldn't get out until June 18th to even look at our existing system, so I have kind of written them off - sorry if that offends anyone).
Anyway... the two companies that I currently have quotes from are Raleigh Heating and Air and G and M Services. They both seem like reputable companies, and I think we have made up our minds with who to go with. But... before I actually make the call to get it scheduled I thought I'd reach out to people on here to see if anyone here has used either of them before. I've done searches and I haven't seen anything negative about either. I think they'd both do a fine job, so we are leaning toward the less expensive of the two... unless I get a whole bunch of responses that stear me otherwise.

[Starglow]

This has been a number of years ago, but I had a bad service experience with Raleigh Air. I have two AC units and both were working fine with no issues.

Raleigh Air ran a special ad in the newspaper for cleaning and inspecting central AC systems, so I called them up and scheduled an appointment.

The service tech came to my home and started working on the units. A short time later, he tells me the AC compressor is bad on one of my units because he couldn't get it started.... now remember, these units worked fine before he arrived to service them. He installed a starter capacitor and tried many other things and couldn't get the AC compressor running.

He left, and given the age of the AC unit, I started shopping around for a replacement. After explaining the situation to one of the companies I had asked for an estimate, the salesman insisted that one of their service techs should come out to verify the compressor was actually bad before they sold me a new unit and he would deduct any service fee off the price of the new unit if I actually needed one.... so I said fine.

They sent their service tech out and he had the compressor running in less than 30 minutes and figured out what had happened.

When the Raleigh Air service tech was doing maintenance and checking the heater function, he left an access cover off the air handler unit for too long and the system shut down the compressor to protect it from being damaged. When the tech installed the starting capacitor, he rewired the compressor wrong. So the Raleigh Air service tech caused all the problems and wasted a bunch of my time getting it straightened out.

I called Raleigh Air and informed them of what happened and they sent me a full refund check in the mail. Again, this was many years ago and I don't want to judge the whole company based on this one incident.... but I've not used them since then.

The best advice is to check several references and the BBB ratings for the various companies and go with whoever you feel the most comfortable with.

[KCfromNC]

I've used G&M a couple of times over the year for minor issues (less than a few hundred each visit). I had no problems with them and felt like I was treated reasonably - they were able to get out quickly, the problem was fixed, they were upfront about my options and didn't try to upsell me, and so on. I have no experience with them as far as bigger jobs go, but if I needed work done they'd at least be on my short list of companies to talk to.

Good luck with the project.

[sacredgrooves]

Justin Woodlief 796-2017. Extremely knowledgeable, efficient, and great prices. I use him on my own house out of the 50 or so HVAC companies I am familiar with.

[CindyInRaleighNC]

JR Heating & Cooling - 919-795-1898

We have used him for years and refer everyone to him, great guy with great prices and you will be VERY pleased with his service, I promise! The absolute BEST in the business, he knows what he is doing and does NOT overcharge.

Cindy Golden

[WeLuvNC]

We have used Newcombe for our Heat Pumps. they are very reliable and I recommend them. No idea of how they rate on pricing and such since it has been 8 yrs (Gasp) since we had to go that route and replace ours. I use their annual service contract which means they come out 2x / yr to service them etc and they are great. no probs with them.

[flamtap]

Allen Kelly was recommended to me by several co-workers. They charge a little more but they do quality work.

[WorkingMomof2]

We just used G&M to put in a new system for our upstairs a/c. I'd definitely recommend them. They were prompt, polite, did a great job, and the owner called to check and make sure that we were satisfied with the service.

[drummandan]

Starglow is referring to Raleigh Air, NOT Raleigh Heating and Air --two different companies all together. People confuse the two all the time and its unfortunate for us as Starglow can attest.

[pamisano]

Has anyone heard of or used Twin Heating and Cooling? Any thoughts?